Secretion of cortisol into blood stream is necessary for our survival as it enables our flight or right response in facing imminent danger. However, this life-saving substance that the body makes in the adrenal cortex through glucocorticoid synthesis can also destroy our arteries and the rest of the body if it remains in the blood stream too long. And this is a physiological aspect of our stress response and its side effect.
Likewise, anger can become a problem if it lingers on,
though it is a natural emotion in response to a certain phenomenon or object.
As a matter of fact, recent neuropsychological studies have found that a part
of our brain, amygdala, which is activated when we are angry, is also involved
in compassion (Chang et al., 2015)*. Because of this, anger and compassion can
be on the other side of the same coin to each other. Nevertheless, as corticoid
should be in the blood stream for a short period of time, anger should not be a
prolonging emotion, lest it would fester into grudge and vengeance. In the
meantime, blood corticoid level would remain high as anger lingers and ferments
to contribute to pathogenesis of a plethora of illnesses.
The First Reading (Ben Sira 2:30-28:7) makes a point
on problem of prolonged anger, warning of detrimental consequences of festering
anger. Such leads to hatred and vengeance. And we may risk ourselves to be put
under God’s judgement for those who let their anger linger are sinners. And
those who cherish anger are ones who only live according to flesh, lacking the
Holy Spirit. Thus, Ben Sira wrote:
Remember your last days and set enmity
aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Remember the commandments
and do not be angry with your neighbor; remember the covenant of the Most High,
and overlook faults. Avoid strife and your sins will be fewer, for the
hot-tempered kindle strife (28:7-8).
In a way, Ben Sira asks us why we need to let our
anger fester into enmity and hatred for vengeance when God can overlook our
fault and give us a fresh start, evoking these words of God:
It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake,
your offenses; your sins I remember no more. Would you have me remember, have
us come to trial? Speak up, prove your innocence! Your first father sinned;
your spokesmen rebelled against me. Till I repudiated the holy princes, put
Jacob under the ban, exposed Israel to scorn (Isaiah 43:25-28).
This means God’s mercy of forgiveness that has saved
us through His Son’s sacrifice:
They are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation,
through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the
forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God—to
prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and
justify the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:24-26).
Thus, it is clear that our salvation hinges upon our
abilities to extinguish the fire of anger by the power of the Holy Spirit and
forgive one another for each other’s offenses. After all, we always say in Lord’s
Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against
us” (Matthew 6:12).
Immediately following the Gospel Reading of the
previous Sunday (Matthew 18:15-20), which addresses how we can handle those who
sin, those who offend us, the Gospel Reading of the Twenty-Fourth Sunday (Matthew
18:21-35) addresses forgiveness.
Peter asked Jesus how many times he would have to
forgive a community member who has offended him and if forgiving as many as
seven times would suffice (Matthew 18:21). Because seven is considered as a number
of perfection among the Jews, Peter seemed to have thought that forgiving seven
times would be “perfect”. But Jesus’ expectation on us for forgiveness of one
another is much higher, saying:
I say to you, not seven times but
seventy-seven times (Matthew 18:22).
This means that we must forgive what we think “perfect”,
without setting a limit on how many times we should forgive. Imagine what if
God had set a cap on how many times we can seek His forgiveness for our sins
against Him. Imagine if we could only receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation
up to seven times and no more. Then, most of us would be condemned!
Fortunately, God’s mercy of forgiveness works beyond
seven times – beyond human quantification.
It is also understood that Jesus brought the number, “seventy-seven”
to counter the seventy-seven vengeances of Lamech, who arrogantly said to his
wives, “If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times”(Genesis
4:24).
This certainly puts Lamech on an express lane to
condemnation by God, in light of Ben Sira 27:30-28:1.
Then Jesus spoke the parable of a king who forgave his
servant’s great debt out of compassion for him, who begged the king for his
patience in extending the repayment due date (Matthew 18:23-27), in contrast to
the parable of the unforgiving servant, whose debt to the king was forgiven by
the king but refuses to forgive the smaller debt owed by his fellow servant
(Matthew 18:28-35).
The king who forgave the debt of his servant owed to
him is Heavenly Father. He forgives our debts of sins to Him as long as we
forgive each other’s debt to one another but will not forgive our debts of sins
if we refuse to forgive (Matthew 18:35).
It is not right to expect God to forgive us but we do not forgive one another. That is why Jesus calls us, through this set of two parables in contrast (Matthew 18:23-35), to forgive one another as the Heavenly Father forgives us, in juxtaposition to his new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another (John 13:34). And God does not limit the number of forgiveness He can grant us. Therefore, we shall forgive one another without setting a limit, meant by “seventy-seven times”.
In connection to the Second Reading (Romans 14:7-9), forgiving
one another, by setting our anger aside, thus, keeping it from becoming an
obstacle of forgiveness, is made possible as we live a Christ-centered life. If
we still live for ourselves, then, our ego will not let go of our anger. But if
we let our amygdala work for our compassion, replacing anger, while remembering
how compassionate God is in forgiving our debts of sin, we can be merciful and
forgiving without a quantifiable limit. After all, this is our own salvific
benefit, because we may forfeit our eligibility to enter the Kingdom but become
subject to condemnation for refusing to forgive, as in the case of the servant
who was forgiven by the king but unforgiving to his fellow servant.
Remember, it all depends on how we process our anger,
which is like cortisol in the blood stream. We must let the amygdala switch anger
to compassion, by living a Christ-centered life, instead of a self-centered
life, so that we forgive, prompted by compassion.
Perhaps, Philippine President, Elpidio Quirino’s executive
clemency granted to the Japanese prisoners of war in 1935 makes a great example
of forgiveness.
Having his beloved wife and three children killed by
the Japanese military forces during World War II, President Quino’s anger
toward the Japanese was beyond the boiling point. But he was also a man of
strong Catholic faith. Thus, he struggled with his anger and sought God’s grace
through the Holy Spirit. And he was able to set his anger aside, through his
Christ-centered life, feeling compassion for the prisoners’ families in Japan,
sending petitions for clemency. He knew what it was like to lose his family
members. And, as President of the Republic of the Philippines, suffered greatly
from the Japanese military forces, he was expected to execute all of these
remaining Japanese prisoners of war, as the people of the Philippines demanded.
Imagine the anger of the Filipino people toward him for pardoning the Japanese
prisoners. Imagine the moral and spiritual agony that he had through his
conscience, rooted in his Catholic faith, based on Jesus’ teaching, had been.
He knew how angry the Filipinos were. He knew how
anger he was. But, he put Christ first and wanted his people to do so, as
President of a Christian nation. And this conclusion of his was expressed
through these words of his:
I should be the last one to pardon them as
the Japanese killed my wife and three children, and five other members of my
family. I am doing this because I do not want my children and my people to inherit
from me the hate for people who might yet be our friends, for the permanent
interest of our country.
The above words of President Quirino speak what the scripture
readings of the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, point to:
forgiveness and salvation.
We may pass our unextinguished and festering anger on
to our neighbors and children. But being like President Elpidio Quirino can
break this vicious cycle of evil through forgiveness as an act of love and
compassion, commanded by Jesus.
*
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